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He'd developed a bit of an affinity for heights. But since it was so nasty outside, he decided to make do with a library bookshelf. The very top of it. He's even flipping through a magazine on wireless technology. He's got it flat against the top of the shelf, though, so no one asked him any annoying questions.

He's got a popsicle too, of course. He's not exactly trying to make noise with it, but those are rarely quiet affairs.

Everything had gotten super complicated fairly quickly. He hadn't seen Hina in ages. And worse than her ending up in prison, it was this prison. When he'd made his decision to drop off the face of the earth, he knew it meant losing her, too. But she was strong, in more ways than one. But by separating himself from her, it also kept the other Greeed from connecting him to her and using her for leverage.

Or that's what he told himself anyway. The truth was, he enjoyed his freedom for how long it had lasted. When that idiot showed up, he had found out he'd traded one set of bonds for another. And this is what he'd earned for that. All the theft, murder, and destruction he and the others had laughed about.

And now that asshole Eiji was here. This was going to get stupid really quickly. He'd been useful at the time but now that he had found out who he really was, this was going to get even worse.

The splat of his melting popsicle dripping onto the magazine brought him back to his sense. "Tche." He was Ankh now. Shingo Izumi was as good as dead, as he'd told Eiji. He bit off what remained of the popsicle and dropped the stick off the side of the shelf.

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He shook his head and made an exasperated motion with his hands. "Why do you care so damn much?" He bit off the last few bits of popsicle. He put his feet down on the ground so he could lean over and jab Eiji in the forehead with the stick. "Anything that happened before matters as much as a popsicle stick does when the popsicle's gone. It's just trash."

"Ow!" Eiji frowned, both at being poked and because of what Ankh had said. He wasn't entirely sure just what to say in response, but that didn't stop him from opening his mouth anyway.

"It's only natural to care about things, isn't it?" Adding the next part was probably a bad move, but the words tumbled out before he could think it over. "Besides, Hina-chan is really worried about you."

"Caring so much about other people isn't normal. It's stupid," he kicked his feet back up onto the table. "And why should I care about a stupid woman like that? She's a complete stranger." There was slightly less venom in his words when he spoke of Hina, but only by degrees. Everything he'd spent so long building was going to come crashing down around him and this asshole at the table was going to be responsible for it.

"I think you're wrong, Ankh." He was surprised that he had spoken up so boldly, yet he didn't stop himself from continuing the thought. "If people don't care about one another then there won't be anything good left in the world."

His gaze fell momentarily, but when he looked at Ankh again he had a certain determination in his eyes.

"What you said about Hina-chan isn't right either. Don't you know she misses you?"

"How can she miss someone she doesn't know anything about?" Because who he was now was a complete stranger compared to the Shingo she knew. And she was better off if it stayed that way.

"She misses Detective-san," he conceded, "but I think she would like Ankh too if you gave her the chance."

She had told him that he was different than he used to be, but everything about who he was before couldn't be gone. Besides that, he was her family. Eiji was sure that Hina wouldn't just stop loving Shingo because he had changed.

"Tche," was the only response he had to that. But now he was out of popsicles. "A woman like that is only going to be trouble for me."

"What kind of trouble?" Ankh likely wouldn't tell him, of course. "And even so, isn't trouble worth it for family?"

At least, that's how he thought it was supposed to be.

"I told you, she's not my family!" he shouted at him. He didn't really care if this was a library or not. He wasn't going to sit here and be lectured by a moron like this.

Eiji flinched, the shock giving way to a saddened expression.

"I want to believe both of you," he began, "but I know Hina-chan isn't lying."

He paused, clearly trying to think of the right thing to say.

"Do you not remember being Detective-san at all?"

That probably wasn't it.

No, it wasn't. But he wasn't going to turn down an out when he was given it so openly. "I've never met that woman before in my life." Sure, let them think he was an amnesiac. As long as it got them off his back.

Even if that was the case, Eiji would just have to try even harder to make him remember.

"But you talked before like you knew him, at least..." He furrowed his eyebrows. This was way over his head.

He shook his head. "I knew of him. He's a much of a stranger as some other asshole on the street."

If Hina-chan wasn't lying, maybe Ankh wasn't either. Did that mean he honestly didn't remember at all? That would be really bad, especially if he was the one who had to tell Hina.

"Is that really true?"

Did that actually work? How stupid was this guy? Honestly, there had to be limits...

"Yeah." Just as long he didn't hatch any crackpot schemes to try to jolt his "memory" back.

Eiji nodded then, as if he had some sort of new understanding.

"I'll leave you alone for now." He stood up, that spark of determination from before returning. "The next time I see you I'll definitely have ideas to help! Try to remember more about Hina-chan until then, okay?"

He suddenly had a feeling he opened up a bag of worms he wanted nothing to do with when he saw that look on Eiji's face. "Suit yourself."

He wanted another popsicle. But he decided to wait until Eiji left the library and no doubt took off to tell Hina all about his new discovery.

He didn't know where to go from here, but he knew Hina was still better off without him. That was really the only thing he could do for her now.

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